Motor Industry News

This month brings another new plate registration with the introduction of the 62 plate. It may be with rose tinted memories but it does feel that the new plate system has all but eroded that excitement and buzz that the August new plate introduction used to bring to the market. The sales chart may well be much flatter now without the spike and dip that August used to bring, a fact which may be welcomed by the Motor Industry. But memories of midnight handovers and the feel good factor seeing the new plates leave the showroom and the Kudos of having that shiny new bike on your drive means seems to mean less with the passing of every new plate change.

Early reports for 62 plate orders were typically limited, although there is usually a lift later in the month and we hope that this will bring some much needed activity to dealers. The overall new market remains all but flat in comparison to last year, with gains in the Scooter and Adventure Sport categories compensating for the declines in all other style categories.

Recent Auction activity is worth noting as a good indicator of what is happening in the used marketplace. There has been a noticeable increase in the number of bikes on offer, and from a wider range of sources. Entries were dominated by Bandit derivatives, Honda CBF models and a number of big Cruisers. Whilst there was no shortage of bidders, values were struggling to make provisional money. Bikes which caused the biggest reaction were really clean examples of early Fireblades and R1. A fact we have noted previously with an increased demand for what are becoming modern classics.

Values have weakened again this month mainly in response to increased caution in paying too much for anything rather than a major decline in demand. In truth sales have been fairly steady over recent weeks, it’s just not enough to give any boost of confidence for the immediate future.

Following the Olympic Games then it would be fair to expect the Cycle market to benefit from the exploits of Team GB. It may be that people simply get out and use their bike which has languished in the back of the garage for months rather than buying a new one, but the feel good factor that the British cyclists have engendered must have a positive effect upon that market.

For the Powered Two Wheel market, the possibility of having a British Moto GP World Champion looks plausible for the first time in years. What affect this would actually have on the Motorcycle market is only conjecture, although it may well be that it is currently too much of a minority to see any major benefit. The demise of the Hein Gericke group serves as a stark reminder that the Motorcycle market is shrinking and the only real certainty is that money can still be made in the Used Bike Market and that buying correctly is the key to on-going success.

Rob Hobson

VIPDATA is part of CDL Vehicle Information Services Ltd (CDL VIS) the vehicle data arm of CDL Group Holdings Ltd, based in Stockport, Cheshire. www.cdl.co.uk